A Flickering Flame
by MarsStarPower
Summary: A sequel to Fire of an Ocean. Back at the compound between their freshman and sophomore years of college, Maureen and Peter are happier than ever. When Peter has a run in with a scientist on a mission, he changes into something Maureen doesn't recognize. Will the team figure out what's wrong before it destroys Maureen and Peter for good? Warnings posted before each chapter.
1. Chapter 1

Trigger warnings:

Domestic violence

Fat shaming

Maureen slammed a fireball across the room and into the target. Though she was tempted to celebrate, she kept moving. She'd heard it enough times from Nat: never stop moving.

Peter swung past her and webbed a henchman to the wall behind her.

"Thanks, sweetie," she spoke into her jacket.

"Anytime, baby," he answered on the radio.

"Would you two knock it off with the pet names?" Tony chastised them which only led to both of them giggling.

A blue and red shield flew past Maureen's head, taking out a guy that had been running up on her. She, in the meantime, had bigger fish to fry: the scientist who was attempting to overload the system and erase the data. She snuck up behind him and sent a few sparks at his labcoat, which immediately took and lit the coat on fire. In the few moments it took for him to shed his coat, she leapt up behind him and grabbed his arms, wrenching them backward.

"No! I must delete the data. The boss will not be pleased."

"At this point, your boss is the least of your concerns," Maureen said.

The scientist twisted around suddenly, making Maureen lose grip on his right arm. He grabbed blindly at the table in front of him, reaching for something to use as a weapon. Peter swooped in then to assist, fighting with the flailing scientist who swiped at him with a needle. Peter feinted left before tackling the man.

"Just web him!" Maureen called.

"I'm out!"

"I am going to get Tony to make you a drone that just carries around extra web fluid."

Peter scoffed as he sat on the scientist who was now fully subdued. "I'm not sure what you are implying, _Hawthorn_."

"That you come ill equipped, _Spider-man_," her tone was as equally light as his, the laugh barely masked.

"You two, stop flirting and bring him over here." Tony had emerged from his radio location. It was the only way he would let them go on missions at the moment: if he was running point from a location nearby.

Maureen helped Peter up and grabbed ahold of one of the scientist's arms. They walked him over to Steve, who took over and led him out the door.

Peter rubbed his thigh. "I think I landed weirdly on my thigh or something. It kind of hurts."

"Have Dr. Cho look at it when we get back," Maureen suggested.

"Nah, I should be fine."

Even from under her mask, Peter knew she was giving him a look.

"If it still hurts tomorrow, then I will go see her, okay?"

Maureen nodded. "Okay, fine."

"Glad I could please you, _Mom_," Peter teased.

"I'm _so sorry_ I want to make sure you didn't break something and not know about it, like _the last time_." The pair fell in step as they exited the building, ignoring the SHIELD agents who were marking evidence.

"It was one time. And it was only a hairline fracture, so it healed in like two days," Peter protested.

Maureen giggled at his insistence and took his hand in hers as they boarded the plane that awaited the team. "You're my favorite."

Peter pulled his mask off as they stepped into the plane's aisle. "You're _my_ favorite."

They paused to kiss, Maureen's mask still clinging around her eyes.

"Oh, get a room, you two." Nat rolled her eyes, a shadow of a smile on her lips.

The two smirked at each other and headed towards the storage room in the back of the plane.

"Hey! Not a room _on my plane_!" Tony yelled from the front. He glared at Nat. "Stop encouraging this!"

Nat dropped into the seat next to Bruce with an innocent shrug as Maureen and Peter burst into laughter and settled into seats in the back of the plane.

**~*~MARVEL~*~  
**

That night, Peter and Maureen cuddled in bed, watching an episode of _Supernatural_.

"I don't know why I didn't watch this when it was on," said Maureen.

"Yeah, me neither. Good show." Peter threaded his fingers through her hair mindlessly.

"Good plot, hot guys. I'm not shocked it went on as long as it did."

"Whoa, what is this about hot guys?" He sat up on his elbow and gazed down at his girlfriend, an exaggerated expression of hurt on his face.

"Oh, lie down, Spider-boy. They're like 30 years older than us." She reached up and stroked his cheek. "You're all the hot guy I want." Her brow furrowed at the feel of his skin. "And at this moment you are literally hot. I thought it was just body heat, but it's not your usual temperature. I think you have a fever."

"Really? I haven't gotten a fever since before…well, I think since before my powers."

"Well, you have one now. I'll get a cold compress for your head." She was out of the bed and across to the bathroom before Peter could protest.

Damp washcloth in hand, Maureen crawled back into bed and set the cloth on his forehead. "There. That'll help bring it down."

He gazed at her with loving eyes. They'd been dating for almost a year – 10 months and counting – and it still amazed him how caring she was. "Thank you."

"Sure. Your body must be fighting off something pretty crazy for you to get a fever." She clicked off the television as the episode ended. "Which means, we should get some sleep."

"I'll be fine if we stay up," Peter protested.

"Mmhmm." She settled in on her side facing Peter and leaned over to kiss him goodnight. "I love you."

Peter sighed, giving in. "I love you too."

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

The fever was gone the next day, so the couple shrugged it off and set about their day. They were headed into the city to Stark Tower for a weekend of dating and patrolling.

They spent the day perusing the comic book shop, window shopping, and eating pizza on Peter's favorite rooftop. Around nine thirty, they headed back to Stark Tower to change into their suits and head out.

It wasn't long before Peter's senses picked up on something. They'd been working on a technique where Peter would hold Maureen as he swung and once he was ready to land she would let go and levitate down. It got them both where they needed to be quickly, without causing issues.

They swung a couple of blocks over to find a man robbing a convenience store. Peter ran in first, Maureen close behind.

Peter shot a web at the pistol the thief was holding. It flew out of his hands and across the room. "Karen, call the police for an attempted robbery."

"Calling now, Peter."

The thief put his hands up, signaling his surrender. Maureen expected Peter to web him handcuffs, but instead Peter wrenched his arms behind him and smashed his head into the counter. Only then did he make handcuffs out of his webbing.

Maureen stared with confusion as the superhero pair headed out the door, sirens echoing in the distance.

It wasn't until they were a couple of blocks away that Maureen spoke.

"Hey, what was up? Why bang his head into the counter? He was giving up."

Peter huffed. "As far as we know, Hawthorn. What if he'd had another gun? Besides, it's not like you were helping. I needed to make sure we would both be safe."

It felt as if he'd slapped her.

"W-what did you say?"

"I'm not trying to be mean, but it would have helped if you had actually done something instead of just standing and watching me."

The wind had been knocked out of her. Peter had never been so cruel. Normally for something so easy he would have celebrated that no one had been hurt, and then he would have snuck the bottom half of his mask up for a stolen kiss in an alley or on a roof.

"Come on, let's head south. Probably more going on that way."

She nodded numbly, and climbed into his arms.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

They patrolled for another three hours, but Maureen didn't notice any other strange behavior. It was like one second he was someone totally different, but the next he was himself.

"I think I'm done for the night; what about you?" Peter stretched with a yawn.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired. Let's head back to the tower. Do you wanna walk? It's a good ten blocks from here. That's a long way to swing after we've been patrolling all night," said Maureen.

"I can manage. Come on." Peter wrapped his arm around Maureen and shot a web at a nearby building, taking off with a rush.

They landed on the balcony within a few minutes, Peter clearly tired.

"Hey, you good? You look really tired. Maybe you weren't quite as healed as we thought…" Maureen rubbed his arm.

"I'm fine. It's just a lot carrying someone so heavy several blocks."

He opened the hidden door and hopped in, leaving a shocked Maureen behind.

She slunk in after him, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. Was he still sick? Was that making him tired and harsh?

They changed into pajamas in Peter's usual bedroom and slid into bed. Though technically they still maintained their own rooms, it was rare they spent a night apart. Maureen honestly contemplated sleeping in her room, but decided Peter was just tired and needed more sleep after having been sick the night before.

Peter reached over and kiss her lightly. "I love you so much. It's amazing being able to patrol with my girlfriend. It's like…you just understand me so much better."

She melted a little and reassured herself that she had been right. He was just still feeling sick from the night before.

Peter traced a finger up her arm and across her shoulder, inching downward to the valley of her breasts. Closing her eyes to focus on his touch, she let out a deep sigh of contentment. He reached into her tank top and wrapped one hand around her left breast, massaging lightly. Simultaneously, he used his other hand to push her tank top under her right breast, and he began to lick and tease her nipple with his tongue.

Her moan was louder than usual, reveling in the empty tower and the freedom to do as they pleased.

"Hey, I have an idea," Peter whispered.

"Oh?" Maureen said coyly.

"Come here." He jumped out of bed, waiting for her to follow.

Maureen trailed him down the hall towards the main living space, her tank top back in place. He led her to the balcony and opened the door.

She looked him up and down. "You aren't thinking what I think you're thinking, right?"

He gave her a mischievous grin. "We don't have to get undressed or anything. But no other buildings near here are up as high as us. So no one would see…"

A jolt of electricity shot through her. It did sound sort of hot.

"Okay but let me go change into a really long shirt or something." She jogged back into the room, peeled off her tank, boxers, and panties, and pulled on an oversized shirt she sometimes wore to bed. It went almost to her knees and covered everything. The feel of the fabric against her otherwise naked body made her wet as she walked back down the hall to where Peter remained.

"Hey, sexy." He winked at her.

There was her Peter. He definitely had just been tired from whatever it was he was fighting off.

Maureen slid into his waiting arms and the two leaned against the iron bar, the warm air whipping around them. Peter reached under her shirt and pressed a finger against her wetness, grinning at the moan she let loose at the touch. He pressed further and pushed two fingers into her vagina, stroking another moan from her. As he touched her, she stuck her hand through the flap in his boxers and began pumping him lightly, twisting slightly as she moved up and down.

Peter pulled his hand from under her shirt, loosed her hand from him and turned her around so that she was bent over the iron railing. He tilted forward and slipped in her from behind, thrusting faster and faster until he came, groaning with pleasure.

While she was still bent over, he slid out of her and reached under her legs, rubbing her clit at a desperate pace. She held on to the railing in front of her, needing to hold her balance as her legs tightened and trembled while she rode her orgasm with a cry.

Straightening, she turned and looked up at Peter, who was watching her with a smile.

"You good? Or do you have another one in you?" Peter wagged his eyebrows at her. It had not been unheard of for him to bring her to orgasm as many as three or four times in a row.

"I think leaning out the window while I orgasm is plenty for the moment," she laughed. "Especially after patrolling. But maybe tomorrow."

"Challenge accepted." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

The next couple of days went by like a blur and with no more of the incidents that had had Maureen concerned. She chalked it up to exhaustion and getting sick.

Nat, Tony, Peter, and Maureen headed out for another Fury-assigned mission early Wednesday. More alien tech had been used in a bank robbery, and Fury wanted the team to track and recover the technology.

"Ever since the Vulture, I've gotten so sick of alien tech. And of the people who use it for crimes. I bet some of this stuff came from Vulture," Peter lamented on the plane ride.

"Well, hopefully it'll be fast. I mean, Tony already has them located it looks like. I don't think it took him more than an hour. I bet Fury would love to get his hands on some of the stuff Tony uses to find these guys."

Peter chuckled, "I can't see Tony ever giving that up. And SHIELD, while good, isn't there yet."

The warehouse was small, which made it simultaneously easier and harder to catch these guys. Easier, because the robbers didn't have a lot of places to hide, but also harder, because there were less places for the team to hide in order to surprise them.

Tony coordinated as usual, and the group got into place. Peter lifted Maureen up onto the roof while Nat climbed up behind them. The three entered a skylight onto a catwalk-like structure and went their separate ways. Maureen was stationed on the catwalk just over the front door to prevent them from escaping. She focused her energy, ready to create a wall of fire at a moment's notice. Peter hung from the ceiling, ready to rid the criminals of any tech using his webs. Nat had dropped quietly to the first floor to fight them hand to hand.

Tony's imaging had been right on the mark. The four were sitting in the center of the warehouse, two playing cards, one tinkering on a piece of tech, and the fourth counting money.

The four robbers scattered as Nat appeared and immediately started fighting the man closest to her.

Two of the robbers grabbed tech nearby and pointed it at Nat. Maureen watched the scene closely to make sure she knew where all four were at any time. She didn't want the fire wall to go up too early and give it away. It needed to be right as they ran up so they would have to stop abruptly and not recover easily. As the tech powered up, she glanced at Peter who was supposed to be pulling it away with his web, but instead of shooting down at them, he shot across and swung down into the fight.

"Peter, what are you doing?" Tony's voice came across the radio.

But instead of answering, Peter performed hand to hand combat that would have put Nat to shame. He bounced between the two guys, kicking and punching with flips in between. Finally he webbed their hands together, the tech in his hands. He pointed the tech at the two guys Nat was fighting.

"Hey, you two! Get on the floor!" Peter yelled, sending a warning blast to the floor by the one closest to him.

"Spider-man, put those down," yelled Maureen into her radio. "She's got this!"

But before he could respond, the other two surrendered, one still underneath Nat who was straddling him on the floor while they exchanged punches.

Peter dropped the tech haphazardly on the floor and strutted away.

Maureen blinked. Tony was going to kill him.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

"What the fuck was that, Parker?" Tony exploded on the plane.

"What do you mean 'what the fuck was that'? I did my job. Barely broke a sweat." He shrugged nonchalantly. His arrogance permeated the air.

"You don't make this up as you go along, Underoos. You get the tech, Nat gets the guys. It was the plan."

"Yeah, well my plan worked better. We got the guys and probably in half the time." He grabbed a beer from the mini fridge and cracked it open.

Tony snatched the beer from him with a look of shock. "Did you hit your head or something!? Go sit down while I figure out what to do with you."

Peter dropped into one of the seats and put on his headphones.

Tony stalked past Maureen. "Do me a favor and get your boyfriend's brain back for him, okay?" Then he was gone.

Nat didn't say anything. She just shot Maureen a concerned expression while the two worried about Peter.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen didn't say anything until they were alone in Peter's room back at the compound.

"Hey, Peter. Is everything okay?" She bit her bottom lip as she asked it.

"Of course, why wouldn't it be?" He was changing out of his suit into everyday clothes.

"It's just not like you to take over like that, is all."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I've gotten so much better and Tony still insists on making me basically sit on the sidelines. Like, whatever. I could have easily taken all four guys myself. I didn't even really need Nat or you there."

Maureen flinched, stung by the implication that she wasn't good enough.

"Have you had anymore fevers, do you think?"

His eyes snapped to her. "Are you saying that I'm delusional? That I'm not as good as I say I am?"

"N-no, I'm not saying that. I just mean…you haven't been acting like yourself since that first fever." Maureen walked up to him and gently set a hand on his shoulder.

Peter spun around, the position change knocking her hand off his shoulder. "I'm just fine. I'm better than fine. I've never felt stronger. After today, I feel like I could lift an entire building."

"Peter, maybe we should go see Dr. Cho, or Bruce—" She was cut off as Peter's hand grabbed her upper arm, just above the elbow, his grip impossibly tight.

"I do not need to see a doctor."

"Ow, Peter. Peter, you're hurting me. Please, stop," she pleaded.

He let her go with a shove, sending her to the ground with enough force she was sure she'd bruised her tailbone.

"I'm fine." Peter slipped his shirt on and walked out of the room, leaving Maureen on the floor in tears.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen hid in her room for the rest of the evening, claiming she wasn't feeling well and didn't want any dinner. Peter hadn't come back, which was fine with her at that moment.

She contemplated her next step. She could tell Tony, but what would that do? Nothing had happened to Peter. Nothing Tony could help with. Same with Dr. Cho and Bruce and Nat.

Maybe it was her fault. Maybe she had just needed to be proud of him for taking down so many criminals at once. Maybe he was right that Tony was holding him back and not letting him take control.

Maureen sighed and curled up on her bed, drifting off to sleep.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

"Long sleeves in this heat?" Tony asked.

Maureen glanced down at the shirt she'd chosen to hide the bruise Peter had given her. "It's barely 90. You northerners," she scoffed, hoping it was believable.

He gave her a skeptical look, but didn't question her again.

With an inward sigh of relief, Maureen opened the fridge. Her mind prodded at her, reminding her of what Peter had said the other day. _It's just a lot carrying someone so heavy several blocks. _She closed the fridge and turned on her heel.

"If anyone needs me, I'm going to go ride for a while before training."

Tony waved to show he heard her, so she slipped back to her room to change into her riding gear.

The ride was everything she had needed. Merida seemed to understand that Maureen was hurting, so she galloped harder than ever, her jumps smooth and effortless. After several laps around the ring she'd built, she guided Merida towards the forest and the two vanished into the trees.

Sweat dripped down the small of her back as she finally slowed Merida to a stop in a clearing. A stream burbled nearby, birds singing all around her. She closed her eyes and let herself disappear into the sounds. After a few moments, she dismounted and led Merida to the stream to drink.

"Hey."

"Shit!" Maureen flung around, sparks flying from her fingertips.

Peter stood in the clearing. "Tony said you came out for a ride. I saw you head this way. I missed you last night."

Her heartrate sped up. Was he mad at her?

"I'm sorry I freaked out on you last night. It's not okay."

The tension fled her body. He was himself again. Maybe it would be better now.

Peter crossed the clearing and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry. I love you so much." She could hear the sadness and regret. When he pulled away she saw tears glistening in his eyes.

"It's okay. I forgive you." She smiled at him. "Do you want to walk back with me and get some lunch?" Her stomach felt hollow from the strenuous ride and lack of breakfast.

"Absolutely. Maybe like a salad or something?" He gave her a side glance.

"Um, yeah."

She just needed to make him happy. It would get better.


	2. Chapter 2

So I'm thinking this one is going to be a much shorter story than the first one, likely three, maaaybe four chapters, just because I can get right into the plot since we're starting in the middle of their relationship.

If you're a _Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom_ fan, see if you can spot the Easter Egg!

A/N: No, the thing causing Peter to be this way is not a symbiote (i.e. Venom). I can't say that I know quite enough about symbiotes to properly write that fic, and I don't have time for the research that I would end up doing on it.

Trigger warnings:

Fat shaming

Heavy warning for food restriction (indicative of eating disorders)

Domestic violence

Homophobia/use of gay slurs

Maureen studied the bruise on her hip with a sigh. Peter had gotten upset the night before because she'd been too tired to have sex with him. The scene played over again in her head, like a cruel movie.

_"You should be thankful anyone wants to have sex with you. It's like petting a cow." _

_He pushed her hard so that she fell sideways into her dresser. _

_ She recovered, holding her hip as it ached, though at the moment the ache in her heart was greater. "Peter, I- you don't really mean that, do you?"_

_ "Of course I do. You should hear Nat after training, talking about how hard it is to teach someone who can't do flips because her stomach is too big." _

_ The tears streamed down her face by then, but Peter ignored them and climbed into her bed. _

She hadn't eaten anything since then. Maybe if she lost some weight this would all be over.

It had been a week since the fever, since he'd changed. She'd contemplated going to Tony a dozen times, but as far as anyone could tell Peter was mostly himself, minus a couple of arrogant remarks. He was definitely a lot stronger, though. During one mission he had tossed Maureen into the air like he'd thrown a pillow. She'd flown easily 15 yards, managing to levitate perfectly over the suspect and capture him within a circle of fire.

After, he chastised her, saying she could have gone further if she wasn't so heavy. She'd spent the plane ride back sobbing silently in the bathroom.

Her stomach growled, reminding her it was two in the afternoon and she hadn't eaten anything. Training was at three, so she opted to grab a banana. It would be enough that she would have energy in training, but not so much that it would hinder weight loss. She followed the banana with a can of cherry sparkling water. The carbonation would help her feel full, but with no calories it would be like she hadn't had it at all.

Training was hard regardless, though. Nat had her sparring with Peter, which was not only difficult because he'd gotten so much stronger than her, but also because the bruise on her hip still ached, making many of the motions hard to follow through on.

"So when you're kicking like this-" Nat demonstrated a kick to Peter's side, making it look easy. "You need to make sure your center of balance is solid so you don't fall over or stumble, breaking the impact. But the better kick to use here would be this one-" she waved Peter over and gently pushed his chest with her foot. "It gets them out of your space and buys you time. Try it." She held up the training mitt, one hand inside the mitt and the other holding it, so that it was firmly planted against her chest.

Maureen breathed deeply and tried to avoid flinching as she lifted her right leg up and attempted to mimic Nat's movements. It fell flat, the pain radiating through her hip as her leg craned upward.

Peter rolled his eyes behind Nat. "Here, lemme try."

Nat turned and copied the stance. The force Peter used sent Nat flying backward, catching herself in a backwards roll. "Excellent. You'd give yourself a lot of time with that kick."

She glanced at her watch, "Looks like we're done for the day. Maureen, hang tight for a second?"

The cocky expression on Peter's face as he walked out the door turned Maureen's stomach.

Nat gave Maureen an appraising look once Peter was gone. "You okay?"

The younger woman nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, of course."

Nat didn't look like she believed her. "It looked like you were having trouble with your right leg."

Maureen waved it off. "I think I landed on it wrong while patrolling the other day. It's no big. Just need a day or two for it to rest."

There was still a look of skepticism on Nat's face, but she finally let it be. "Put some ice on it. And if it still hurts tomorrow, tell me. You don't want to train on it if you've done something."

"Okay. I'll let you know." Maureen grabbed her water bottle and limped out of the training room as quickly as she could.

Peter was waiting for her in her room. 'Hey, you alright?"

She wavered for a moment at his change from cocky to caring. "Uh, yeah. Just…a bruise from last night."

For a second it looked like he was going to apologize, but instead he shrugged. "You should be more careful."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I should."

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Dinner that night was difficult to maneuver. Whomever was currently in the compound ate together, which meant it would look odd if Maureen didn't join them, and even odder if she sat and didn't eat. She took the smallest portions possible, moving the food around her plate to make it look like she'd eaten. In reality, she ate one small slice of roast chicken, and one carrot.

Her stomach protested as she stood and dumped the rest of the food in the trash. It smelled so good, but she needed to stay strong. She already felt thinner, though she knew that was the hunger talking.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter curled up with her in bed, the television playing _Supernatural_.

"Remind me to have real silver and holy water on me at all times," said Peter.

"It's definitely beginning to feel like these things are actually around. I'm not sure where you would keep the holy water though. Your suit is so damn tight, after all." Maureen snuggled closer to him. These were the moments she was living for.

"I'd get Tony to add a tiny pocket for an itty bitty flask. Like the flasks that Bobby and Dean have on the show, but even smaller. Laughably small, really."

"A laughably small flask is your answer?" She laughed. "You wouldn't be able to keep a lot of holy water in it."

"Yeah, but in the grand scheme of things, do you need a ton? Like if you know one thing is a demon, you can kind of assume the rest are too and just kill or exorcise them all."

"Not necessarily. What if the demon is playing some sort of trick on you and is creating hallucinations or something and you need to use the holy water multiple times?"

"Can demons do that?" Peter asked.

"I have no clue, but it sounds legitimate," Maureen pointed out.

Peter laughed and kissed her forehead. "I love your logic."

Maureen beamed. He was proud of her again. The thought helped her ignore the gnawing at her stomach. She just needed to get through the first few days. Then her body would adjust and it would be alright.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

She ended up not being entirely wrong. By day four, the empty feeling in her stomach had become normal. Anything more than a granola bar or a small piece of grilled chicken at each meal made her feel utterly stuffed. The only thing that hadn't sorted itself out though, was the exhaustion.

She stumbled through training, catching haughty looks from Peter and concerned looks from Nat. But, it was working. She'd already lost five pounds. It looked a little like her face was starting to slim, some of its roundness draining from the edges, but it definitely wasn't enough. Her stomach still bulged when she sat, her size 12 pants still strained against her thick thighs.

With determination, she sought out Nat for extra lessons.

"Are you sure? You've seemed a little tired during training the last couple of days. You don't want to overdo it." Nat put down the book she was reading: _The Princess and the Barbarian. _Maureen eyed the book but didn't say what she was thinking. Bruce and Nat had been closer than normal recently, and she and Peter thought they were secretly dating. Was Nat getting inspiration for long nights on missions?

"I'm okay. I just think learning how to do some things like acrobatics might help, you know? If I could balance myself, then I could do some of those cool takedowns like the one where you flip them over at the neck using your thighs."

Nat wore the expression that made Maureen believe she could read minds. She needed to learn how to give that same look, because it was unnerving and would likely send her enemies running.

"Alright. But only thirty minutes every couple of days. Your body needs to rest."

"Thirty minutes _every_ day," Maureen negotiated. "Since I'd just be learning the basics at first, it won't be crazy strenuous for at least a couple of weeks. And then I could easily scale back to every other day."

Nat pursed her lips. "Fine. But if I get the sense _at all_ like you're tired, then we will stop until I think your body is ready again." She cracked her book back open, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Do yourself a favor and consider law school."

Maureen grinned. "Will do. Tomorrow at four?"

"Tomorrow at four."

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

"We'll start with absolute basics: the cartwheel."

Maureen blinked. "A cartwheel?"

"Acrobatics is all about moving outward from your center. While you have that from your yoga practice, it requires more energy output. You have the control, but not the movement. Yoga is stationary; acrobatics is not," Nat insisted. "Let's see what you can do now."

The younger girl frowned. She'd always sucked at cartwheels, her weight hindering her from getting her legs entirely in the air. But she had to suck it up. Peter wanted her to be better, so they could become the ultimate superhero duo. He'd pointed at Ant-Man and Wasp, how they worked so well in tandem. Or how Bruce and Nat were becoming a duo, their rumored dating leading them to more and more missions together. They needed to be better than all of them.

And then she would finally deserve him.

With a desperate arc of her arms, she swung forward, her legs getting about three quarters of the way up in the air, but not entirely above her head.

"That's pretty good," Nat complimented, taking stock of the move.

"It sucked," Maureen corrected bitterly.

"The only thing that sucks is when you don't put in any effort. There's effort here."

Nat went through some tips and helped Maureen through the move, grabbing her ankles as she flung herself forward.

"See how it feels differently?" Nat held Maureen's ankles so that she was almost in a handstand, her legs slightly parted in the air.

"Yeah, I do." Maureen really did feel the difference, but the strain of her weight on her hands was beginning to take a toll on her.

Nat helped her finished the arc and Maureen rubbed her wrists. Clearly she needed to lose more weight for this to work. She was down another two pounds, eating less than 700 calories each day. Maybe if she went down to less than 500.

She would make it happen.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter raised an eyebrow as Maureen exited the training room. He'd come up to perfect a couple of moves he was working on when he'd seen her with Nat, attempting cartwheels.

In the back of his mind, he was proud of her for trying new things. She'd admitted to him towards the beginning of their relationship that she had feared failure, in part because her gran had been so strict and wanted perfection early on, but also because of the bullying she'd dealt with in school. Especially in gym class, she tried to disappear into the background.

He recalled what she'd said at the time.

_ I sucked at sports and I was the plus size kid. _

She'd stopped saying 'the fat kid' because he'd hated it so much, making her say the positive mantra he had created about him loving her body.

_They'd pick me to do positions during team sports that they knew I couldn't do, just so they could laugh at me. They cared more about humiliating me than about their team winning. It took so much of me not to use my powers on them during PE every day. _

But another, now louder part of him, rolled his eyes at her cartwheel attempts, ashamed that she was his girlfriend. Briefly, he wondered where that thought had come from. It felt strange, like someone else had said it and his brain had picked it up and agreed with it.

She attempted another one, better this time, but still not entirely perfect, her feet a few inches from being where they needed to be in the air. Disgust at her failure edged its way into his brain, pushing the pride further into the recesses of his memory. How would they ever be the ultimate duo if she couldn't do basics like a cartwheel?

At least she gave good head.

Peter blinked, shaking his head forcefully. Where the fuck had that come from? That was so demeaning and downright awful. What was he becoming?

Maureen limped out of the training room just then. He opened his mouth to compliment her on taking the extra effort and for coming so far, but instead his brain flipped gears and he sneered at her. "We're never going to be an amazing duo if you can't get this basic shit down."

He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving her drooping with defeat. It wasn't until he was in the elevator that he started to question what he'd said.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

It had been a full week and Maureen had only lost 9 pounds. She cursed at the scale with frustration. At this point, she maxed out at 500 calories each day: a low calorie granola bar in the morning, a piece of fruit for lunch, and four ounces of grilled chicken for dinner. It had taken her a couple of days to figure out how to do it, but she'd worked out with Tony that she wanted to do a healthier diet, so she would make all of her own food for dinners. As far as the team knew, she had six ounces of grilled chicken, a half of a cup of brown rice, and some sort of vegetable each night for dinner. With the schedules everyone kept recently, it was easy for Maureen to eat out of view of anyone other than Peter. And Peter hadn't shown any interest in how little she was eating. At one point he had even commented that her diet was exactly what they needed to be stronger.

She considered her calorie intake as she took in the numbers on the scale. Her pants were much looser, but she wasn't quite into a ten yet. Apparently 500 calories were too many. Maybe 300 would work. She made the decision to cut out the fruit and scale back to three ounces of chicken. The protein, she knew, would help keep her energy for training, and that's really all she needed.

Peter was already eating, his plate packed full with lasagna and garlic bread. Maureen sighed at the smell of the lasagna, one of her favorite foods, but got busy heating up the chicken she had prepped earlier that week. No one else was around, so she didn't need to make the other food to keep up appearances.

Peter eyed the chicken. Somewhere in his head he heard himself asking why there was so little on her plate. He knew it wasn't enough. It wasn't healthy for her to be eating such a small amount.

But at the forefront of his mind, he wondered why she was eating at all. He had only just noticed a difference in her weight, but it was such a small loss.

"That seems like a lot, doesn't it?" he asked. A faint nudge at the back of his mind scolded himself for saying it, but he couldn't make the thought move further.

She paused, taking in the tiny piece of chicken. With determination, she cut off a small bite, pushed it into her mouth, and then threw the rest in the trash.

Peter nodded approvingly and shoved another forkful of lasagna into his mouth.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen and Peter patrolled the next couple of nights, wandering around where Maureen used to live with Alec.

Peter swung with Maureen in his arms, appreciating the feel of her against him. He'd come to love this time together: the two of them side by side, a team.

He held her close, thoroughly content.

"I love you so much." He called through his mask.

Her heart soared. She must be doing something right. "I love you too."

He hailed a sharp left and gestured downward. "I hear something."

She nodded and let go, levitating towards the ground. He landed a few feet from her.

A guy had a gun pointed at a younger male who looked to be around their age.

"Hey, man," Peter started calmly. "You don't really want to rob him."

"You're right; I don't," he replied.

"Wait, what?" Maureen gave Peter a perplexed look.

He continued on, "This little fag was making out with my little brother."

The other man was trembling, his hands up. "I said I was sorry. I'll never come near him again!"

"Shut up! What did you do to him!? He's never had any problems getting girls. Ever!" The gun was shoved closer to the other man's head.

Maureen's heart flew into her throat. That easily could have been her. Ezra flashed in her mind, ranting about her sinning with another girl. She froze, unsure of what to do.

Peter didn't hesitate, though. He shot his web at the gun, which flew out of the man's hand, but not before going off.

The victim ducked as the bullet hit the side of the nearby building. He ran, fleeing down the block and around the corner.

Peter punched the guy, the gun now on the ground by Maureen. Once the guy was on his knees at the force of the punch, Peter kicked him sharply in the ribs and webbed both hands to the pavement.

"Karen, call the police and tell them about an attempted hate crime. Send the footage."

Peter gathered a still shaking Maureen and swung away.

By the time they reached a nearby rooftop, Maureen was calmer, her breathing returning to normal.

He knew he wanted to comfort her. He knew he wanted to reassure her and talk her through it. But he couldn't form the words.

"What the fuck was that?"

She flinched. "I-I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't fucking cut it when you're saving someone's life." Peter drew his arm back and backhanded her across the face.

Maureen cried out, biting her lip and drawing blood. He shoved her against the ledge of the building, and she had to keep from tipping over the edge.

"Had you fallen over, and you didn't have the ability to levitate, you could've died. A split second! A split second between you and death. That's what that guy had. And you froze," he spat out his words.

Tears caught themselves in the fabric of her mask. One day she would be worth him. She missed when she hadn't been worthless.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Tony eyed the girl in front of him. Her face was pale, bags had formed under her eyes, and she had been shuffling around the compound like she had become a zombie. He'd noticed it more since she and Peter had returned from their last patrol in the city, but today it was even more prominent.

He slipped out of the room and traveled down to his lab.

"FRIDAY, scan Maureen's vitals."

"Sir, Maureen's pulse is 70. Her blood pressure is 100 over 65."

"That's pretty low." He ran through the possibilities, and a thought popped into his head. "FRIDAY, scan all of the food Maureen has eaten in the last week. Determine average calorie intake per day."

FRIDAY was silent for a few seconds, reeling through footage. "The average calories per day were 291."

"Fuck," Tony swore. How had he not noticed it? How had no one else noticed it? Especially Peter. They ate together all the time. Wouldn't he have seen how little she was eating? Unless… "FRI, run through video and tell me if Maureen's been throwing up in the last couple of weeks."

There was another brief silence. "No, sir. She has not vomited within the two-week time frame."

"So how did Peter not see it?" He wondered aloud. And how to address it…?

**~*~MARVEL~*~  
**

Maureen pushed the elevator button to go down. FRIDAY had come over the speaker in her room and said Tony had asked her to swing down to the lab really quickly. She panicked over why Tony might want to see her. Had he finally realized she wasn't cut out to be an Avenger? Had Peter gone to him and expressed his concerns that she wasn't good enough?

Tony sat in his chair, a grave look on his face.

Her stomach dropped. She was right. He didn't want her on the team anymore.

"Hey, Tony. What's up?" Her voice wavered.

"Hey. Grab a chair." He motioned to the seat across from him.

She gulped air to try to catch her breath as she took the seat.

"You been okay?" He asked. He had considered having Dr. Calhoun talk with her, but maybe it was better this way. They were close now. He could help.

"Yeah. Working hard, training."

He nodded. "You've seemed sort of tired lately."

"No, no I'm good. Really. I've been getting a lot better at some of the acrobatics that Nat's been teaching me. And I'm better at sparring now," she insisted.

"I'm not questioning your skills, Maureen. You're a great asset to the team."

Her brow furrowed with confusion. If he was happy with her as an Avenger, what did he need?

"I'm concerned that you aren't eating enough."

Her stomach plummeted. He'd noticed. How had he noticed?

Tony saw her panic and the questions on her face. "I had FRIDAY scan your vitals and run the diagnostics on the food you've been eating lately. It's less than 300 calories a day. That's indicative of anorexia."

Maureen was silent. What could she say to that?

"I think you should take some time off. Let's talk with Dr. Calhoun and Dr. Cho and figure out a plan. I don't want you to get hurt on a mission, and even without any missions this will kill you if you keep doing it." His heart squeezed at the notion.

Peter would hate her. She would be useless to him again. She would be fat and awkward and they would never be the perfect duo. He would leave her and find someone who could become what he needed, what he wanted.

"I'm fine, Tony. I'm eating protein, and that's what my body needs to be the best superhero I can be. Peter and I have been doing great at patrolling, we've rocked out any missions the team has gone on. I've got this. I'm good."

"Maureen, you are not fine. Nor are you good. I'm taking you off assignments until Dr. Calhoun and Dr. Cho clear you." Tony needed to put his foot down. He'd done a lot of reading about eating disorders in the last few hours. He had to do this.

"Fine. I'm off assignments for the Avengers. But I'm 19 now, Tony. You can't force me to see Dr. Calhoun or Dr. Cho or anyone else. I'm an adult and can make my own decisions. Peter is headed back to patrol in the city and I'm going with him." She stood quickly, incensed, but faltered as her vision blacked out. Stumbling, she attempted to turn in the direction of the elevator, spots of light coming back to her.

Tony was at her side, a hand on her back as she struggled to regain her balance and sight.

"Please," was all he said.

She didn't respond. Just righted herself and took the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

Trigger warnings:

Domestic violence

Rape

Anorexia/eating disorder habits and thoughts

Sorry this took so long. We've had guests staying with us, so it's been difficult to find time to write. I think the next chapter will be the last, in part because I'm turning my attention to syllabus prep for the next school year.

Peter and Maureen returned to the tower, both sweat drenched from a humid evening of patrolling. Peter had run her ragged, moving from one potential crime to another with little time in between. He'd only gotten angry with her once, so she saw it as an improvement. She hadn't found it in her to tell him she was off the Avengers, but maybe she could make it seem like it was a good thing, that they could go off on their own with hindrance of Tony.

Maureen trudged to her bathroom to shower; Peter did the same. She stripped, glancing at herself in the mirror. She definitely looked a touch thinner, but the stomach folds were still there, mocking her, reminding her she wasn't good enough for Peter, for Spider-man. Her fingers traced the shadow of the bruise on her hip, which was almost entirely faded except for the mottled yellows that reminded her of a summer sunset back in Virginia. Around her wrist were bruises in the shape of a hand. His strength had grown even more and it made her wonder how he kept getting stronger, while she seemed to wither away.

With a sigh, she stepped into the hot water and pretended to fade away.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Tony still sat in his lab, his mind racing methodically. He still blamed himself. But he also had to wonder at Peter. Peter was with her constantly. How had he not seen her eating habits? Not questioned them?

Had he missed something else?

"FRIDAY, connect with Karen and show me footage of Spider-man's patrols for the last two weeks."

The screen cued up with Peter's body camera. He fast-forwarded for a little while, eyebrow raised as Peter slammed a would-be robber's head into a store counter, mouth gaping as he saw Peter punch and kick a man who had been holding a gun to someone's head, heart skipping a beat as he watched Peter on a rooftop with Maureen.

"FRIDAY, rewind 20 seconds and turn on the sound."

_ "What the fuck was that?"_

"_I-I'm sorry." _The fear in Maureen's eyes struck Tony the most. The fear seemed…expected. She wasn't surprised. She knew it was coming.

"_Sorry won't fucking cut it when you're saving someone's life."_ From Peter's point of view, Tony saw a jostle and then his arm swung out and backhanded Maureen across the face, sending her mask askew.

Tony leapt from his chair in outrage. His mouth hung open, an incredulous expression on his face, as he watched Peter shove her towards the edge of the building, Maureen catching herself before she fell over.

_ "Had you fallen over, and you didn't have the ability to levitate, you could've died. A split second! A split second between you and death. That's what that guy had. And you froze!"_

"FRIDAY, rewind to the beginning and play all sound."

Tony gripped the edge of his desk as he watched and listened.

_"…__Besides, it's not like you were helping. I needed to make sure we would both be safe."_

"_W-what did you say?"_

"_I'm not trying to be mean, but it would have helped if you had actually done something instead of just standing and watching me."_

He fell into his chair, disbelief and rage flooding his mind.

_ "I'm fine. It's just a lot carrying someone so heavy several blocks."_

The patrol footage ended, Tony ready to breathe fire.

"FRIDAY, find instances of violence between Maureen and Peter in the compound in the last two weeks. Also pull up their conversations."

He would have his AI pull up all interactions between the two, but he was hesitant to accidentally witness something he didn't want to see his adoptive son doing with his girlfriend. This would have to do.

Tony sat and he watched. He watched and listened to every interaction, saw every glance, listened to every word. It took nearly four hours. And by the end he was more perplexed than he had been. He'd seen Peter as his usual self, complimenting her, telling her how much he loved her.

But then there had been the other interactions. The other actions that spoke of something else, or someone else.

Shoving Maureen into a dresser. Gripping her and shaking her by her arms. Telling her she was fat. Chastising her for eating a piece of chicken. Making fun of her for attempting acrobatics.

And what was this about a fever?

He paced around the lab, no ideas or solutions coming to him. There was no explanation for what had happened to Peter. Had Tony failed? Had he messed up his kid so irrevocably in such a short time?

One thing was certain, though. He needed to get to Stark Tower now.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter was in her bedroom when she exited the bathroom, a wave of moist heat puffing out with her. She'd changed into her boxers and a tank, sore and exhausted.

He patted the bed suggestively.

"Peter, I'm so exhausted. How about we raincheck and we can have sex all over the tower tomorrow? Every room in the place?" She collapsed onto the bed and closed her eyes.

A hand lifted the waistband of her boxers and dipped downward. Maureen's eyes jerked open, her hands pushing away at Peter.

"I said not tonight." Her heart thudded in her ears.

"Come on. I need to burn off some of this energy." Peter crawled towards her, pulling at her boxers.

"No, Peter." She held tightly to the boxers, scooting towards the edge of the bed and away from her boyfriend.

He growled at her and ripped the boxers, the two pieces hanging off her thighs with a tear straight down through her crotch.

She cried out and scrambled off the bed, but Peter grabbed her by the arm and yanked her forcefully back down. He straddled her, and yanked on her tank top, shredding it into pieces.

"Peter, stop!" Maureen pushed against him, but his strength was so staggering and her exhaustion so crushing, she couldn't make him budge. She could use her power, she could burn his hands. But she didn't want to hurt him. She couldn't do that to him.

With greedy fingers, Peter clutched at the front of her panties, a bruising grip against her pelvis.

With tears blinding her, Maureen summoned the barest breath of energy, singeing Peter's hands and the parts of his legs which pressed against her own.

He shot off her with a howl. "Bitch! Fucking _bitch!_"

Maureen tore out of the room, searching for a weapon or means of escape. Instead, she found Tony stepping from his Iron Man suit.

"Oh my god, Tony." She raced towards him, too panicked to care that she wore little else other than her panties and the shreds of her boxers and tank top.

The look of horror that crossed Tony's face was swiftly replaced with one of determination and anger. He tossed her a mask. "Put this on and don't take it off until I tell you to."

She did so without question, too terrified to ask why.

Moments later, Peter sprinted from the room. Despite seeing Tony, he kept on course, going straight for Maureen. She, in turn, fled a few feet behind Tony and put up a ring of fire around her body. Tony stepped backward into his suit, mask sealing around him. He gave an instruction to FRIDAY and smoke poured from the vents in the room.

Peter halted and stared at the smoke before he collapsed to the floor in a heap. Maureen dropped her fire, studying Peter with reticence.

Tony gave another instruction and smaller vents sucked the smoke back, the larger vents flooding the room with air.

It took a full minute, but Tony opened his mask back and nodded to Maureen. "You can take the mask off now."

"What was that?" She tossed the mask onto the kitchen counter.

"Nothing that will hurt him. It'll just knock him out for a few hours."

"I thought FRIDAY was disabled here."

"For everyday use, yes. I kept some protocols for emergencies." Tony walked over to Peter's limp body and frowned at him. "Like a smoke to knock out enemies. Though when I created it, I never thought I would have to use it on one of my own team. Or on my own son." He turned to Maureen. "I saw the things he's been doing to you. I went through FRIDAY's footage."

Maureen flushed red, holding the shreds of her tank top over her breasts. "I'm okay."

"Regardless, it never should have happened. I wish you would have told me. Or Nat. Or hell, even FRIDAY." His eyes swept over the remainders of her bruises. Her wrist. The edge of the one on her hip peeking out from under her underwear. "Go get dressed and I'll have the helicopter meet us to go back to the compound. I want Dr. Cho to check you out."

She didn't have the energy to argue. It was time to accept help.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter woke, his head fuzzy as he tried to piece together where he was. His arms and legs were lashed to a table, a blanket strewn over his body. He was still wearing his boxers and no shirt.

"The Med Bay?" He searched his memory. He remembered Maureen running away from him. And then… Tony? Indignation surged through him. Tony used some gas to put him to sleep! They had him tied up in the compound med bay!

Peter thrashed against the cuffs, building his strength back to free himself, but struggling at the sting of Maureen's burns.

"Tony! Get me the fuck out of here! Untie me!"

The door swung open and Tony appeared with a pissed off but calm expression. "Like hell."

"Where is she?" Peter demanded.

"Where is…who?"

"You know who I mean. Where's Maureen? Bitch! I'll fucking kill you!" Peter screamed, the cuffs beginning to pull from the table.

Tony glanced at the loose threads. "Maureen isn't here. You've hurt her enough." With that, he stepped out and closed the door, locking it just as Peter's right strap pulled free.

By the time Tony moved into the next room, Peter was entirely free. Bruce sat watching through the two-sided mirror.

Tony sighed. "FRIDAY, protocol Fix Spidey in Med Bay 2."

"Yes, sir."

The same sleeping gas poured through a vent, and Peter collapsed at the door, where he'd been about to kick it open.

"Stronger cuffs this time?" Bruce asked.

Tony considered. "What do you have in the way of induced coma?"

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen stared at the meal in front of her. Nat had prepared dinner for the team and sat across from her. Bruce and Tony were going to be eating later, and Pepper was in L.A. on business, having taken Morgan with her to experience some of California.

"It's okay if you don't eat all of it." Nat took a bite of her burger.

The burger seemed to grow in size in front of Maureen. It taunted her, the cheese melting over each side. There were five steak fries as well, and all she could think was that Peter would be so angry.

"What was is that Peter wanted you to say when you put your body down?" Nat asked.

Maureen was taken aback. She'd had no idea anyone else knew about it.

Nat saw her surprise. "I hear things. It's my job."

"Um, it was… my body is gorgeous and sexy and… do you actually know the whole thing?"

With a smile, she nodded.

"Oh. Well… my body is gorgeous and sexy and _Peterlovesthewayitfeelsbeneathhishands_," she sprinted through the ending, face flushing at saying it in front of someone who wasn't Peter.

"Why did you think that someone who made you say that as a mantra would suddenly want you to lose a bunch of weight? Especially in a way that's so dangerous."

She studied the food in front of her as she considered. "I guess I figured it was all part of the beginning of a relationship, you know? You like the person enough that you sort of deal with what you don't like, and then eventually you try to change what you don't like. I've always been heavier. I'm sort of desensitized, I suppose, to the insults. But coming from Peter… I needed to change for him."

"Oh, sweets. Being in a relationship means you're okay with what that person is like from the beginning. And if you aren't, you shouldn't be in the relationship." Nat took another large bite of her burger, chewed for a moment, and then swallowed. "Tony needs your help in trying to figure out what's wrong with Peter. FRIDAY's scan shows there is something foreign within his bloodstream that is further altering his DNA, but they don't know what. However, he also wants to make sure you start recovering. Which includes food. What do you think you can eat from that?"

"Um, a small bite of burger and half of a fry."

"Let's try three bites of burger, and two fries. And then I'll take you to Tony."

Maureen stared in horror at the food. Just a month ago she would've devoured everything and gotten more fries. But now?

"Keep repeating the mantra in your head. Although, I don't know if it's the best to use Peter in it anymore. Maybe just the beginning."

A part of her wanted to shake off what Nat suggested, taking Peter out of the mantra seemed wrong. But the part of her that could remember his hands on her, the force of his body crushing hers, didn't mind so much. That part actually agreed that she wanted nothing to do with Peter.

With that thought, she lifted the burger. Fuck Peter. This wasn't about him anymore.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

"So the fever was the same night of the lab mission?" Tony paced, tapping his chin. Maureen would have mused that he looked like a stereotyped movie detective, but she was too busy trying to ignore the bloated feeling in her stomach.

"Yeah, it was that night. But it was gone the next day, so we didn't really think about it. Just figured his body was healing itself of something." She clicked the pen a few times, her knee bouncing.

"Was there anything else off about him? Behavior? Appearance? Anything?"

"No, not rea—actually…he was complaining that his thigh hurt right after we subdued that one scientist."

"His thigh, huh? Which one? Left or right?"

"Right."

Tony glanced over at the Spider-man suit. He'd brought it down to the lab to inspect it for chemicals, but hadn't found anything. "FRIDAY, scan the right leg of the suit for any abnormalities."

"Sir, there is a pinprick in the side of the suit on the outer thigh."

"Fuck. Did the scientist have a needle?" If anything permanent happened to his kid, he would personally find the motherfucker and kill him himself.

"He grabbed something while we were fighting him. It could have been a needle," Maureen said grimly. "He was wiping a bunch of data, saying the boss was going to be angry if it remained. Do you think the data could have information pertinent to Peter?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a shot. FRIDAY, get Fury on the line. I need that data."

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Tony paced behind Bruce who was pouring over the data. He'd studied it over a few times, but some of the chemistry was beyond his expertise. Bruce kept nodding and making humming noises as he absorbed the information, and it began to set Tony even further on edge. He wanted answers to explain what was going on with his kid.

"Okay," Bruce finally said, prompting a sigh to expel from Tony.

"What is it? How do we fix it?"

"So it looks like he's created this formula specifically with superheroes in mind. Or at least people with mutations. His notes are showing the negative side effects, but it didn't seem to sidetrack his work, or really concern him. He was attempting to make mutants more powerful – a sort of magnification of their powers. I guess he thought he could create some sort of army? Looks like it caused prior subjects to get increasingly angry and abusive of others, the desire for perfection overtaking everything else. And eventually…" Bruce drifted off, concern on his face.

"Eventually…what? What happened?" Maureen pushed.

"They lost their minds, ended up locked up in psych wards. The need for perfection was aimed first at themselves and their loved ones, but then became a need for perfection from everyone. It drove them mad."

Tony and Maureen shared a panicked, wide-eyed glance.

"I think I can use these formulas to come up with a reversal."

"I sense a _but_ behind that," said Tony.

"I have no way of testing it, so it's going to be reverse Russian roulette."

"Reverse Russian Roulette?" Maureen leaned forward in her chair.

"Your odds are reversed. You want the one possible result, unlike in Russian Roulette, where you don't want that one." Bruce frowned. "It'll also take me a little while. If I work almost constantly, maybe a couple of weeks."

"He'll need to stay in the induced coma that whole time," Tony thought aloud.

Maureen shifted. "M-maybe it's for the best."

Tony had wondered if it was coming. He hadn't been sure how Maureen was going to react after Peter was awake again.

He spoke to Bruce briefly, "Let me know if you need absolutely anything. Money, assistants, hookers. Whatever it takes."

Bruce nodded and stood, vanishing towards the area he used for his own lab.

Tony turned to Maureen. "What would you like to do?"

"I don't think I can be here anymore. At least, not after Peter wakes up. I just don't know where to go." She'd considered every angle, looked at apartments all near school, but there was no way she could swing it.

"We'll find you an apartment by school. Don't worry about the rent."

"Tony, that's… incredibly generous. But even if I could accept that, I've already signed up for housing on campus. It's too late to give it up."

"So? Either you sublet during the school year, or you have a place to escape to on weekends. I don't mind. It's rural Virginia, how expensive could rent be?" Tony stepped over towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I would like you to stay long enough to see Dr. Calhoun some more though. And I'll make sure you have a therapist in Virginia. Plus there's gotta be an outpatient rehab type thing for eating disorders. Consider your effort to recover repayment for the apartment."

Maureen swallowed nervously. No one had called it an eating disorder out loud yet. "Okay. I'll do it."

"Know that you can come back here whenever, though. And if you're okay with it, I would like you to remain on the team, once you're up for it again. After you've been cleared, of course."

"Yeah, I'd like that." It wasn't going to be the same not living with the team. There was a pang in her stomach at the thought.

"We're going to miss you. But I get it."

"Even if it's not really him in there…how do I do this? How do I look at him and not remember everything he said, everything he did? I still have bruises…" She closed her eyes to cut off the tears that were forming.

"I know it won't take away from everything you went through, but I know Peter is going to hate himself for all of it." He had to figure out how to get Peter through the guilt. That was assuming Bruce would be able to reverse it. Though he didn't really want to think about that.

"I know," she said. All the more reason for her to leave. It would be worse for both of them if they were still living in the same building.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

It took nine days. Nine days of working 18 to 20 hours each day, but Bruce finally created something he thought would work. One dose, and theoretically Peter would be back to normal.

Tony and Bruce stood next to each other, the needle in Bruce's hand.

"You're absolutely sure about this?" Tony asked, his entire body feeling like it would jump through the ceiling at any moment.

"As sure as I'm going to be. The enzymes match. It should work." Bruce tapped the bubbles out of the needle.

"Alright. Go for it."

The needle slid into Peter's arm and Bruce eased the plunger in, expelling the antidote into his body.

"How long do you think before we'll see a difference?" Tony watched Peter's face, almost expecting the boy to sit up and start talking to him.

"A day maybe? I'll take blood samples every few hours to see how it's changing. When it looks like it's working, we can bring him out of the coma." Bruce eyed Peter's vitals, careful to make sure everything was remaining stable.

Tony sat in the chair by Peter's bed. "So now we wait."

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen packed the last of her things and surveyed the room. A one bedroom apartment, fully furnished and complete with high speed internet and cable TV, awaited her. Dr. Calhoun had simplified her life, offering to do Skype sessions so Tony wouldn't have to get another therapist to sign an NDA. Tony had found a program just twenty minutes from her that would keep her on a regular eating schedule and help her maintain the recovery she'd done. Though she wasn't back to eating what she used to, her meals were far more balanced than they had been, and she'd even taken a couple of bites of a brownie the night before. She'd gained a couple of pounds back, but without Peter standing next to her, chastising her weight, it was easier than it had been.

She'd already said goodbye to Nat, Bruce, Pepper, and Morgan. Tony was going to take her to the plane. As she stepped into the elevator, bag in hand, she reached for the buttons and hesitated. Her finger hovered over the level that would take her to the Med Bay. It was odd leaving the compound without saying goodbye to Peter, even if he was still unconscious. Tony had told her earlier that morning that Bruce had administered the concoction he'd made, but that it would still be up to another day before they would wake him. Before they would know if it had worked.

With vigor, before she could change her mind, Maureen shifted her hand and pushed the button for the ground floor.

It was better this way.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

By the time Bruce confirmed that Peter's body was returning to homeostasis, and by the time they finally woke him, Maureen's plane had already landed in Virginia. She had already disembarked and been chauffeured to her apartment, where she found a sensible used car awaiting her with a note from Tony not to do anything he wouldn't do.

Peter woke slowly, dazed and unsure of what had happened.

But then he asked about Maureen and saw Tony's face. Then he remembered. Remembered what he'd said, how he'd beaten her. What he'd tried to do.

He begged Tony to get Maureen so he could apologize. Rambled that he needed to make it right.

Tony almost cried when he confessed, "She's gone, kid."

He did cry, though, as Peter began to sob, hunched in the medical bed, weeping for the wrongs he could not right.


	4. Chapter 4

Trigger warnings:

Brief mentions of domestic violence

Brief mentions of rape

Brief mentions of anorexia

This will be a pretty short chapter, just as I wrap things up. The next chapter will be the last, and likely just as short.

Peter dangled his feet in the stream, the water rushing around and over his pale, bare skin. Bruce had pronounced him healed entirely – free from any of the chemical or its effects. He felt fine now; no more did he feel like his thoughts had been shoved to the back of his mind, like someone else was controlling him. And yet he felt awful.

He had no way of making amends. He had betrayed Maureen in the worst ways and he completely understood her decision to leave.

It hadn't been long. Three days. But it felt like eternity.

His senses pricked at something behind him, but they relaxed almost immediately.

Tony settled next to him on the embankment. "Hey, kid."

"Hey."

He hadn't really spoken to Tony since he'd woken up. Not _really_ spoken to him.

"I wish I'd never gone on that mission. It would be so much better if I had just…stayed here. Maureen wouldn't be hurt; she wouldn't have had to leave. I wouldn't feel like I was dying."

"If you hadn't gone on that mission something else could have gone wrong. Maureen might have gotten that needle instead, or someone else might have gotten hurt. There a million other potential repercussions," Tony pointed out.

"It might have been better if Maureen had gotten that needle, though. I would be happy to be the one on the receiving end of the abuse if it meant sparing her from it." Peter watched two squirrels chasing each other back and forth between three trees and found himself envying their carefree romp.

"For all we know, your DNA took to the antidote easier because of how it had been mutated. What if the big green guy had only been able to make one that worked with your spider-y DNA? We'd never have been able to cure her. I know this sucks balls. And I know that doesn't make it any better." Tony wasn't really certain what to say. He didn't want to give Peter hope that Maureen would forgive him, but a part of him believed she would eventually. Who was he to expect that though? Maureen had suffered, and he would do whatever he needed to to help her recover.

Peter knew Tony was right. But he still felt guilty. Still felt like there was a way he could have prevented it.

"I just wish I could fix it," Peter whispered.

"I know, Underoos. I know."

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen sighed at her phone. Though she knew she didn't want to talk to him, she missed Peter. Old Peter, that was. And Peter was back to being Old Peter now. She wanted desperately to hear from him and not feel weirded out or panicked at the contact. But if he did call or text her, she would probably panic.

What the fuck was wrong with her?

If only things hadn't been completely screwed up. If only she had been able to take down that scientist herself, Peter would never have been stuck with the needle. If only she'd made Peter go to Bruce or Dr. Cho immediately when he said his thigh hurt.

If only.

The apartment was small, but cozy. Tony had chosen comfy, but stylish furnishings, or at least he'd hired someone who had. A greenish-gray couch and matching loveseat sat catty corner from each other, with a mahogany coffee table in the center and a 30-inch television on top of a mahogany entertainment center. Pictures of the team from various events – Christmas, July 4th, Tony's birthday – were hanging throughout. It was evident he'd chosen pictures that excluded Peter, however. There were none of him anywhere to be found. Everything seemed just as if she had chosen it herself. Even the quilt on her bed was perfect – a dusty pink and faded green with a mixture of geometric and floral patterns.

Maureen started up her television and flipped over to Netflix. The apartment was silent except for the television, and it depressed her. She missed Tony and Nat and Bruce. And she did miss Peter. But the thought of Peter sent shivers down her spine, the memories of his hands gripping her arms, the insults he threw at her.

She scrolled to _Gilmore Girls_ and pushed play. Lorelei popped on the screen, a snarky sentence falling from her lips.

She could get through this, even if her loneliness was killing her.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

**FIVE MONTHS LATER – DECEMBER **

The lump in her throat grew as she stepped out of the car and into the freezing air. Memories of winter break the year before pushed into her mind.

Tony walked up behind her, having stepped from the limo. He hadn't spoken much through the ride; he'd let her do most of the talking. "Thank you for coming. We really have missed you."

"I've missed you too," she said. She didn't say that she'd finally stopped having nightmares about Peter only in the beginning of November. She didn't say that she'd spent Thanksgiving alone, a takeout meal ordered from Denny's after she'd sworn to Tony she was going to a friend's family's house. She didn't say that she'd wondered how the team would react to her returning, whether they would see her with pity.

"And you're sure you're alright with Peter being here? I moved your room so it's on a different floor now."

Maureen gave him a weak smile. "It's okay. At some point we're going to end up working together. I need to get past it. Dr. Calhoun's been helping with that lately." She watched Tony's assistant gather her suitcase from the car. She considered the irony that now that she was used to having someone do things for her like take her baggage upstairs, she no longer lived there.

After Maureen had expressed a desire to ease Peter back into her life, knowing all of the abuse had been the result of a chemical and not of Peter himself, Dr. Calhoun had suggested that she talk with Peter in a monitored session via Skype.

The late October session had been short, maybe ten minutes, but it had given both of them the chance to see each other.

_"I don't even begin to know how to say I'm sorry, Reeni." Peter's eyes teared up almost immediately, the memories of hurting her still strong in his mind. _

_ Her mind was arguing with itself. The knee-jerk reaction was that the last time she'd seen him he'd tried to rape her. But she kept reminding herself it hadn't really been him, not truly. It was as if a clone had lived with her for that time. _

_ "Dr. Calhoun told me to be honest. So I will be. I'm still sort of having a tough time separating out the fact that it wasn't really you. I'm just now almost back to eating normally again. Truthfully I was really lucky that I had Tony paying attention, because it wasn't long. I basically starved myself for maybe two weeks, so I wasn't really entrenched in this eating disorder culture yet. I still hear your voice sometimes," her voice cracked and she sniffed back tears. "It tells me that I'm too fat, and though I know deep down that it wasn't you, another voice pokes at me and wonders if everything you said was just stuff the drugs brought to the surface, like alcohol does. And that you secretly felt that way about me. And it still really hurts."_

_ The tears overlapped each other as they crawled down Peter's face. "I'm s-so sorry. I never, ever thought you were anything but perfect. I still think you're absolutely perfect. I wish none of it had ever happened. I wish there were some way I could prove to you that you're amazing and gorgeous and the sexiest person I know. I love you beyond words."_

_ They were silent for a minute, the sound of sniffling crackling through the screen. _

_ "I really want to forgive you. I'm just…not there yet. It's still really fresh. But I will. One day."_

She hadn't been lying. She got through entire days now without thinking of him in a way that made her cringe. Now she remembered the real Peter, the Peter that had been the love of her life. At some point she had separated out the two Peters: the real one and the one the scientist had forced upon him.

Maureen walked into the building, the smell sending her a rush of nostalgia. She'd even missed the building itself apparently.

"Hey, FRIDAY," she greeted the AI with a smirk.

"Hello, Maureen. You have been missed."

She chuckled. It was good to be back.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter paced around his room. Maureen had been back for an hour, but he hadn't had the nerve to go and see her. While he knew that she had no hard feelings towards him specifically, that wasn't quite the same as forgiving him.

A knock at his door made him pause, "Come in!"

For a split second he expected Maureen to come into the room, but instead it was Tony.

"Hey, Spiderling. You've been cloistered in this room all afternoon. You becoming a monk? Should I make some calls and see about the nearest abbey?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "Just because I'm in my room for a few hours does not equal monk. Not all monks live as hermits. And there _are_ other requirements, you know."

Tony snorted a laugh. "The other requirements are definitely less likely." His expression changed to one that gave Peter the distinct feeling that he was pitying him. "Dinner should be ready soon. Morgan is watching some Disney movie right now, though, if you wanna join. And yes, before you ask, Maureen is with her."

"Oh." Peter had stopped pacing but started again. "Well, we _have_ talked."

"And I hear eight year olds really help make things less awkward."

"Where on earth would you have heard that?"

"I don't know. Some talk show, or…I made it up. One of those two." Tony turned to leave. "She talked about you a lot on the drive in."

"The whole two minutes it takes to get here from the runway?" Peter scoffed.

"No, the whole twenty minutes from the airport. She insisted on taking a regular plane. Something about feeling silly having an entire private jet to herself at the tiny local airport. At least she accepted the first-class ticket I sent." Tony shrugged and left Peter still pacing in his room.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen shifted slightly to regain feeling in her arm. Morgan had practically tackled her as soon as she was home. Now Morgan was propped against her as they watched _Aladdin_ and sang along together. Even Nat had started to sing "A Whole New World." She'd raised a discreet middle finger to Bruce as a response to his surprised expression.

Jasmine was busy pretending to seduce Jafar when Peter wandered into the living room. He looked sheepish, and a little unsure of whether he was welcome or not.

She hadn't been sure how she would feel upon seeing Peter. For the month and a half since she'd spoken with him, Maureen had been doing exercises with Dr. Calhoun to address the lingering feelings she had towards Peter. Those few pangs that plucked at her when she thought of how she'd felt hearing him call her fat or twisting in his grasp.

It surprised her when she walked in, and her first reaction was not to leap up and hide. The realization cascaded over her: she had forgiven him. Overall, it did make sense. At some point while working with Dr. Calhoun, she'd stopped thinking of Peter as the abuser. She pictured the scientist instead. Peter was a victim just as she was. He had lost control of his body, just as she had. They had been victimized together, and it made all the difference in her mind.

"Hey." She smiled at him.

Her smile made his body feel lighter, the weight that had been smothering him seeping from his bones and evaporating.

"Hey." He settled on to the other side of the sectional. "So what's the next Disney movie on the list?"

"Who said we're marathoning?" Maureen asked.

"Who said we _weren't_ marathoning?"

Morgan chimed in, "_The Little Mermaid._"

Peter nodded. "Sounds good."

He and Maureen shared a glance, one that told him everything would be okay.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen knocked on the door lightly. To be honest, she wasn't quite sure this was a good idea, but it was too late now.

The door clicked open and Peter appeared in front of her. He looked surprised she was there.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi." She smiled, clearly nervous. Her smile wavered, her eyes dropping from his.

They stood like that, searching for something to say.

"So, um, what's up?" Peter stuttered.

"Oh. I, well, I wanted to see if you wanted to play a game or something." It was now or never. Rip off the band-aid.

"Y-yeah. Absolutely." Peter stepped back to let her into his room.

She moved slowly, scared the room would hit her with reminders of the abuse. But instead, she remembered the cuddling on the couch, the banter as they played classic video games, the tender kisses under the sheets before bed.

It brought tears to her eyes to think of how badly things had gone, how it could have been instead.

"You okay?" His voice was raspy.

"I'm okay." She plopped down on the couch. "So. What do you wanna play?"

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

"How did you beat me with myself!?" Peter stared slack-jawed at the screen.

"You had the chance to choose Spider-man as your fighter; you opted not to." Maureen clicked through to read her stats.

"There are like 60 options on Smash Brothers, why would I just play myself?"

"I mean, why not? If Nintendo suddenly decided to add Hawthorn to their superhero add-on patch, I would play myself all the time. I'd become both a Hawthorn expert in real life, and on Smash Brothers." She skimmed the stats. "Oh, look three knockouts."

"With _me_!" He shouted and tossed his hands in the air.

"I'm sorry if you haven't been able to figure out how to use your own powers…" She teased.

He made a sort-of strangled noise of objection, making her laugh as she exited to the main menu.

"Another round?"

"Are you going to choose someone other than me to play?" He eyed her curiously.

"It's possible," she said airily. "Or maybe I'll play Black Widow. She has some kickass moves. Though I do really enjoy some of Pikachu's as well."

"I have not missed getting my ass kicked on this game." He browsed through the fighters, pausing here and there to consider.

"But I definitely missed kicking it."

They fell into a companionable silence, both mulling over how deeply they'd missed each other. And both wondering if it meant they could make something work.


	5. Chapter 5

Shockingly, there are only hairline triggers here - suuuper brief mentions of eating disorders.

This is a short chapter, but there will be a basically-all-smut epilogue. ;)

Lots of fluff here, cuz they deserve it.

Peter lounged on his bed at war with himself. He and Maureen had been back to their old ways, how things had been before they'd become a couple at this time the year before. The only thing that hadn't returned was the constant cuddling, nor slipping into each other's beds to comfort each other after nightmares. In fairness, they were two floors apart now, so Maureen would never hear Peter in a nightmare. Peter could still hear Maureen, however.

But that evening, Maureen had crossed the imaginary boundary on the couch. She'd scooted up to Peter and leaned into his side, tucking herself perfectly into him. He'd taken the opportunity and lightly set one arm around her, and she'd stayed, content until she'd nodded off and he'd had to wake her.

And now Peter couldn't stop thinking about it. She was comfortable touching him again. She was comfortable pressing herself against him and being held in his arms. Maybe now was the time. Maybe he could broach the subject of trying again. Maybe she would at least seriously consider it.

Or maybe he should let her come to him.

He flipped onto his side still ruminating. Though he knew he was imagining it, he swore he could still feel her warmth, her smooth skin under him as she snuggled deeper into his arms.

He drifted off, wishing he wasn't just imagining it.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Maureen watched the show flickering across her television but couldn't follow any of what was happening. Her mind was too focused on earlier that evening.

She still wasn't sure what had possessed her to crawl up to Peter and collapse against him, but it had felt so right. It made her miss him even more now.

Before she would lie in bed torn between missing the feel of him next to her, and now wanting to think of him at all. But now all she felt was loneliness at the empty space beside her. No longer was there the heat next to her that he let off, to the point that she used to make fun of him, claiming she would never freeze to death if they faced such a trial, because he would keep her plenty warm. No longer did she miss the smell of the inexpensive cologne he insisted on wearing, despite having the means to afford better. She would never tell him, but it did actually smell really good.

And right now she would give anything to have that warmth, with the slightly woodsy smell, curled up next to her.

Maybe it was time.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Tony knocked on Maureen's door at exactly 5:30, just as he had been instructed to do.

Maureen called through the door, "Come in!"

The room was dimly lit, the smell of incense wafting through the air. He'd smelled it down the hall, but it was potent now that the door was open.

"Hope I'm not interrupting."

"No, you're good. Just finished a little bit of yoga."

"So…you're doing yoga again?" He almost winced after it came out of his mouth. _Way to bring back shitty memories, Tony. _

"It took a little while for Dr. Calhoun to help me get over the connection between Devin and yoga, but fortunately we only really did yoga like four times." She glanced away from him, still embarrassed at the confession. "It was a struggle at first, but it got better over time." She rolled her yoga mat up in a tight spiral. "What's up?"

"I've been asked to come as messenger."

"And you agreed to this?" She hiked one eyebrow into her hair in surprise. "I can't see Tony Stark as messenger."

"Yeah, I've become a softee, what can I say? Peter asked you to meet him in the Secret Garden, whatever the hell that is. He said you'd know. And that it was no big deal if you didn't want to go. But that if you did want to go, he will be there until 6:15."

Maureen set the yoga mat back in its resident corner, mulling the implication. "I don't suppose you're willing or able to give me any more details?"

Tony shrugged. "I have a small notion of what he's planning. I think he wants you to be entirely comfortable if you want to go out, hence the part about being okay if you don't want to go."

"Oh. Okay. Do you know if he took Ember with him?"

"Ah, that's what I forgot. Since Merida is being boarded at your school, he walked to the Secret Garden, and left Ember for you to ride."

She nodded, still pondering what to do. "Alright. Thanks, Tony."

Tony moved to walk away but paused. "For what it's worth, he still feels like shit about what happened."

"I know, Tony. But thanks."

The room was quiet again as Tony's shoes clicked down the hall. The smoke from the incense streamed in a tight line before spiraling over and over into loops that faded into the air. She focused in on it, trying to decide whether or not to go. Deep down, she knew it likely meant Peter was trying to do something romantic to win her back. Why else would he ask her to go to the opening by the creek? She'd named it the Secret Garden earlier in the year, confessing to Peter how much she'd loved that book as a kid, the idea of having a secret place where you could go and magical things could happen, even if not spurred by real magic.

Determined, she pressed the incense down into the holder, snuffing it out, and went to pull on her riding gear.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter heart refused to slow to an acceptable rate. Tony should've told Maureen at least twenty minutes ago. It was almost six, and he had sworn he would pack up and leave at quarter after. At a gallop, it would only take five minutes to get there. For the third time, he broke down how long each thing would take: Tony telling Maureen, maybe two minutes. Three if she had questions. It would take her five to change. Five to walk down to the stable. Maybe five to get Ember tacked up. That was twenty minutes right there. And that was only if she decided to go immediately. What if she'd had to think about it? What if she only decided just now that she wanted to come and she would arrive right when he was packed up and leaving?

He sighed and straightened the tablecloth for the dozenth time. It was only then that he heard the faint sound of hooves galloping towards him.

She came. She actually came.

Ember rounded the bend then, Maureen sitting comfortably in the saddle. She'd forgotten how calm Ember was, immediately following her instructions to gallop across open fields and into the forest, the sun melting into the horizon. Merida would have balked for a few minutes before finally agreeing.

Her breath hitched at the sight of her garden. Lights hung around the perimeter, connecting from branch to branch on the circle of trees. Though there was still a light dusting of snow on the ground, the center had been cleared, and a small table sat with a red tablecloth and two taper candles, lit and glowing in the dusk.

She dismounted and tied Ember to a nearby tree.

Peter wore his best suit, one that Tony had insisted he get just because he would 'need it one day.' Maureen had an inkling that Tony was going to train Peter and Morgan to take over Stark Industries together, as equal partners. She'd mentioned the question to Tony once, and he'd just sort of hummed at her with a shrug and a hint of smile on his lips. She gave it another year before he had Peter attending board meetings.

"Evening," Peter said.

Maureen was too enthralled by the amount of work that had gone into everything to mock him for his attempt at a formal greeting.

"Hi. Wh-what's all this?" She shivered a little in the cold and wrapped her arms around her chest.

"Oh, here. Come here." Peter gestured to the other side of the table.

Upon walking around, she found a space heater, which hummed quietly. The cord trailed across the clearing to a generator, partially hidden by trees.

Maureen chuckled at the sight. "How did you get the generator to be so quiet?"

"Tony did a few things to it." Peter pulled a chair out for her. "M'lady?"

Maureen settled into the chair with a flourish. "Why thank you, good sir."

"Tonight we have a basil lemon salmon, classic chicken parmesan, or a marinated flank steak. But first…an appetizer of sushi." Peter disappeared to the edge of the clearing and returned with a plate of sushi.

"All of my favorite foods." She perused the sushi options and chose what she figured was a salmon roll. "So how did you get all of this out here? And how is the sushi still cold?"

"There may be a mini fridge and a warming oven plugged in to the generator. Both of which are sitting on a small trailer that I pulled out here. The benefit of super strength."

"Absolutely. Fighting crime and pulling kitchen appliances through a forest." Maureen eased the sushi into her mouth and bit down, savoring the flavors of the salmon, rice, and seaweed. "Mmm. That hits the spot."

Peter chose a piece of veggie sushi and followed suit, music suddenly lilting through the trees.

Her eyebrows knitted together. "Where did that come from?"

He lifted a small remote out of his pocket, where his left hand had been tucked.

"You're just full of surprises, I see." She popped another piece of sushi roll into her mouth with a sly grin.

"I haven't yet begun to reveal all of my surprises." He winked.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

The night sped on as they ate and spoke of anything and everything. He'd even thought of dinner for Ember. Peter brought out her favorite desserts: tiramisu, ice cream sandwiches, and a warm brownie topped with vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup. Two months ago she would have taken three bites and pushed the rest away, but tonight she managed to eat a few bites of each before finally proclaiming herself stuffed.

"So…back to the compound? Do you need help cleaning up?" She sat back in her chair.

"Oh, the night is still young." He stood and picked up both his chair and the now-cleared table, lifting it above Maureen and trotting off with it into the night. He returned, Maureen staring with curiosity, with two lounge chairs.

"Lounge chairs?"

"Yup. Excuse me, miss." He set the lounge chairs next to her as she stood and handed him her chair. He scooted the chairs so they took over the space where the table had been, and then he vanished once more.

A screen appeared then, rolled down from where it hung, partially hidden on the branches of a tree. Peter pulled it all the way down until it squeaked into place.

"So I take it there's also a projector hidden around here, as well?"

He didn't answer, just grinned at her. Another remote control appeared from his pocket and the screen lit up with the opening credits to _The Quiet Man_. It was one of the classic movies they'd made plans to watch, but never had. Another in their ongoing continuation of Maureen's mother's obsession with classic film. From behind his back he produced two blankets, a thermos and two mugs, and Maureen didn't have to ask to know that the thermos was filled with hot chocolate.

They settled next to each other on the lounge chairs, tucked themselves under the blankets and poured themselves hot chocolate.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter dragged the trailer behind them on the way back to the compound. Maureen had tried insisting that she assist with clean up, but he'd denied her each time, sweeping around to pick up practically every crumb himself.

They split off outside of the forest, Maureen taking Ember back to the stable, and Peter heading towards the garage with the trailer.

As Maureen walked back to the compound, Ember now safely tucked away in his stall, she thought back through the evening. She hadn't flashed back at all, hadn't thought of what had happened months ago, hadn't focused on what she was eating to the point that it made her feel ill at the calories she was consuming. She'd come so far since August. Dr. Calhoun would be so proud at their next session.

And she knew why Peter was doing it. She knew he wanted to get back together with her. And truthfully, she wasn't entirely opposed to the thought. But if tonight had just been a fluke, and she flashed back the second they kissed? Or cuddled in bed? Or the first time he put a hand on her bare skin?

A few deep breaths helped steady her thoughts. It would be okay. She just needed to take it one step at a time.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter leaned against the brick outside of the elevator. The evening had gone really well; at least from what he could tell. But he wasn't quite sure if that meant Maureen was just okay with him as a friend, or if she was ready to try again. Or if she'd _ever_ really be ready to try again.

The rest of the evening wasn't quite planned. He figured if they made it as far as they had then things would just go naturally from there.

Maureen strolled into the compound then, helping him forget his concerns. Her face was flushed red from the cold as she unzipped the leather jacket she wore, and he had never been so taken with her.

"It feels amazing in here," she breathed a sigh of contentment. "Though the blanket and space heater were great, a heat pump is still preferred." She sidled up next to him, debating what they would do next.

Peter tapped the button on the elevator, the doors immediately sliding open.

"Did you want to…hang out or something?" She asked. "I could stand kicking your ass at Smash Brothers."

"I think that could be arranged. Or we could always play something I have even a slight chance of winning." Peter laughed, pushing the three to get to his room.

"But where's the fun in that?"

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

The clock shifted from 1:13 to 1:14 before either noticed how late it was. They'd played a marathon of video games before Maureen finally slumped back against the couch, the exhaustion of the night catching up with her. Peter joined, leaning against her gently.

"Thank you. Everything was amazing."

He shifted to look at her. "Anytime."

She gazed up at him, taking in his long lashes and the slight curl of the front wisp of hair that fell over his eye. Before she overthought it, she lifted her lips to his and kissed him slowly.

Peter returned the kiss, careful not to be too forceful, but instead following her lead.

Their lips parted after a moment, and they leaned back to study each other's reactions.

"I want to go slowly. Like, glacial." Maureen's voice was barely a whisper.

"Absolutely. Anything you want." Peter wanted to leap off the cushion and dance in celebration, but instead he brushed a finger lightly over her cheek. "Just say it, and it's yours."

"I've missed you, Peter." She settled back into his side.

"I've missed you, too."

She was back. And things finally felt right again.


	6. Chapter 6

So apparently the plot bunnies weren't *quite* finished with me. There's a little bit of new plot here, but I don't think I'm going to necessarily take it further. Maybe one day it'll come back as another story within the series. We'll see.

No trigger warnings here. Just a NSFW warning. 😉 Enjoy!

**FIVE MONTHS LATER**

Peter tossed his backpack into the backseat of Maureen's car. He'd packed as lightly as possible to account for anything Maureen wanted to bring back to the compound for the summer. When Maureen had told Tony she wanted to drive her car back up to the compound during the summer break, he'd only agreed if Peter flew down to split the approximate 8-plus hour drive.

"So pretty much everything I want to bring back is packed. I'm subletting the apartment to a friend of mine who is staying in town for an internship. Really, her internship is in the city which is like a thirty minute drive, but it's next to impossible to find inexpensive summer housing there. Plus I use the term 'city' very loosely." Maureen turned onto the main road. "I figure it won't take too long to get the car packed up tomorrow. I wanna say it's like four boxes of stuff. Plus my two suitcases."

"Pfft, I could get all of that in one trip probably," Peter bragged.

"As some of it is fragile, I'm going to go with no." Maureen flipped on her radio to allow her Bluetooth to connect.

"I'm offended that you think I would drop something." He pretended to scoff.

"I would apologize, but I remember the Pancake Incident well."

"One time! And it was Morgan's fault that I stepped on the Matchbox car in the first place."

Maureen chuckled. "I thought your Spidey Sense was supposed to warn you of things like errant toys. In fairness, it was pretty funny watching those pancakes fly across the room and smack Tony in the face."

Peter groaned. His adoptive father had first yelled at him, and then laughed a deep belly-laugh that had spread across the room.

"I probably saved us all anyway. That one remaining pancake really wasn't that good," Peter defended himself, staring out the window at the passing trees.

She reached across the center console and patted him on the thigh. "Aw, it's okay, sweetie. Everybody knows that you're very graceful."

"You're lucky you're driving right now so I can't tickle you."

"Tickle me and find out what happens," she half-joked.

He turned towards her with a smile, but not the mischievous smile she was expecting. Instead it was happy and full of love. "It's been a long couple of months without you."

They'd lucked out as their spring breaks were one week apart. Most would have seen that as a terrible thing, but they twisted it in their favor. Peter came down during his spring break and stayed with her at her apartment, hanging around and marathoning Netflix while she was in class. In turn, she went to Massachusetts and stayed with him during her spring break. He was infinitely grateful not for the first time that Tony had talked him into renting an apartment off campus. Not only was it easier for patrolling, but he also didn't need to worry about hanging a sock on the door or dealing with a roommate who wanted nothing to do with a week-long house guest.

And thanks to Tony, no one had yet to figure out how Spider-man had moved from New York to Massachusetts. He'd sent a few lackeys to spread clues that Spider-man was a student at Harvard, not MIT. Then they'd done a few things at Boston University to confuse the press even more. Though it meant he lived in Boston proper to patrol and had to drive into MIT, rather than walk, it was barely a 10-minute drive. He'd just been sure to take some time off during Maureen's spring break, as she'd shared break with Harvard, which made it seem like he was also out of the city and on vacation.

"It sucks that our schools are so far apart." Maureen agreed as she merged onto the road that led to her apartment.

"But, hey, we're halfway through now. And then you can move back up north and buy some more horses and open your business. I can go to grad school in New York. We'll be a lot closer."

Maureen was silent, a gnawing feeling in her stomach. "I…I actually have been thinking."

Peter's heart tightened at her tone. "About?"

"Well. I just have realized how much I missed Virginia. And while I love being up in New York with all of y'all…" She pretended like she was focused on switching lanes while she got up the nerve. "I was thinking of staying down here after graduation."

"O-oh. Well, I guess I get that." Peter turned back to the window, his eyes trailing across the mountains in the distance. "It is really beautiful."

"But I know I'd really miss you too. And I do want to be an Avenger again. I don't know. It just didn't really occur to me how homesick I'd been since I came back down here. I'm only a couple of hours from Richmond, where I lived with Mom. I've gone back since I've been here."

He peered over at his girlfriend, surprised. She hadn't mentioned any trips when they'd talked on the phone or Skyped.

"I found the house Mom and I lived in. They've fixed it up a bit. And…I requested my birth certificate." Maureen turned into an apartment complex parking lot. "I know my father's name."

She pulled into a parking space and turned off the car, meeting Peter's eyes with her own. "I found him. Well, Tony helped me a little there."

"H-he never said anything."

"I asked him not to. I'm sorry, Peter. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just…I wasn't sure how to handle it when I found it. I got the birth certificate back when we weren't talking. I felt like I needed to figure out who I was. Then about a month ago, I asked Tony for help to find him. He just got back with me last week. My dad's in Seattle. He works for a construction company. He has a wife, but no kids." She sat, trying to gauge how upset Peter was. "Are you mad at me?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" Peter took her hand in his. "I get it. If either of my parents were still alive and were someplace without me knowing where, I would want to know more. And I would probably want to keep it to myself for a while. Not feel like there was any sort of pressure to do what everyone would expect me to do."

A tear slipped down her cheek. "Thank you." She used her free hand to brush it away.

"I haven't decided what to do yet, to be honest. I just wanted to tell you. I've felt awful keeping it from you. I just hoped I would know by now if I wanted to try to contact him, but I don't know. I may never know."

"Well, when you decide, I will be there with you. Or, not. I mean, I don't want to assume that you would take me with you to meet your dad. I just mean that if you want me there, I'll be there. If you don't want me there, then I can stay here. Or I could travel with you, but not go _with_ you to meet him-"

She cut him off by leaning over and kissing him. "I understand what you mean."

Peter caressed her palm with his thumb. "Let's go on inside and make dinner. And maybe after I can give you a back massage."

She moaned at the thought. "That sounds amazing."

"Come on. Last one in does the dishes."

"I have a dishwasher!" She called after him as he leapt from the car.

**~*~MARVEL~*~**

Peter straddled Maureen, his hands rubbing up and down her bare back as he massaged the knots away. "What's making you so tense?"

Her words muffled against the pillow. "I think mostly the thing with my dad. And also trying to decide where I'm going to live after graduation. Though I am a little concerned I'm out of practice when I get back to New York and we end up on missions. I haven't exactly been patrolling down here. Just working out with the trainer Tony hired for me."

"So for the thing with your dad, give it time. You'll figure it out, and I'll be with you for every step. As for living arrangements, you have two years to decide. It's plenty of time. And if you don't want to leave Virginia, maybe I can go to grad school down here. Or maybe I can get a job in DC and I can commute. I could probably save up and buy a tiny plane even, that I could fly to work every day and avoid traffic. And finally, as for missions…you'll be wonderful. As always." He rolled his thumbs over her shoulder, pressing firmly to knead out the tension.

She moaned at his touch, relief flooding her at the possibilities. He smiled and slipped down her back, over her shoulder blades, towards the small of her back. The touch of her skin mesmerized him. The smoothness, the softness. With a delicate, leisurely touch, he traced his finger down her spine and across the waistline of her boxers, which he'd earlier pushed further down her hips to reach her entire back. She shivered, goosebumps rising on her arms at the lightness of the caress.

He slid his body down towards her feet, his hands trailing down her legs as he went.

"May I?" He gave a light tug on her boxers.

"Yes," she answered, her voice a little huskier than it had been just a few minutes before.

He smiled, knowing what his touch was doing to her.

Since getting back together over winter break, they'd done exactly as she had asked and taken things a little at a time. By the time they'd each gone back to school in January, they were restricting their sexual activity to making out topless. Over spring break in March, they'd pushed a little further that first week while Peter was in Virginia, Maureen's hand slipping down under Peter's waistband to stroke him until he finished. The following week, while Maureen was in Massachusetts, she'd let Peter dip down into her panties and bury himself, knuckles deep, into her soft center, undoing her with each touch until she came, flooding his hand with her juices.

They'd come close to having sex just before Maureen had flown back to Virginia at the end of her spring break. Naked under Peter's sheets, he had been poised over top of her, stiff and aching to feel her around him again. But then there was a hitch in her breath, and Peter rolled off her without a second thought. She'd tried to convince him she was alright, but he'd insisted that they wait. As far as he was concerned, he would wait for years if it meant taking away the damage he'd inflicted, drugged or otherwise.

Now he removed only her boxers, dropping them to the floor behind him. With measured patience, Peter massaged his way up her right leg, lingering on her upper thigh. His fingers moved higher and higher until they were a breath away from her panties. He let his finger trace the elastic band on her inner thigh, teasingly close to her folds. He smiled as he heard her heartrate speed up just barely. Repeating the same tease on the other leg, he massaged her left thigh, this time allowing his hand to brush with featherlight weight against her panties. Her breathing was more ragged now, her body practically humming at the sensation.

With a deft movement, his index finger lifted the elastic band against her inner thigh and pressed against her folds.

"You are _so _wet," he whispered delightfully. "Maybe I should take these off?"

She moaned an agreement, so he slid her panties down her legs and let them join her boxers on the floor. He sat back for a moment, enjoying the naked woman before him. She hummed in protest at the lack of touch, so he chuckled and gently wrapped his hands around her thighs so that his thumbs were at her apex.

"Peter," she whimpered.

"I love hearing you say my name like that." He brushed against her with his thumbs, still massaging her thighs.

Swiftly, he released her legs and carefully flipped her over onto her back.

"Have I told you yet today how gorgeous you are?" His eyes raked up and down her body; his erection growing and straining in his pants at the sight of her.

"I believe a couple of times, yes."

"Only a couple? Clearly I'm failing." He dipped down and took a nipple into his mouth. With his hand, he lightly flicked at rubbed at the other nipple.

She moaned, trying to remember what she'd been about to say. "When did you get so smooth, Mr. Parker?"

He paused, lifting himself off her, and suddenly she regretted asking him a question, wanting him to return to his task. "I may have been watching some movies lately."

Despite desperately wanting him to return to his ministrations, she chuckled. "What kind of movies are you watching to get bedroom talk? Straight up porn? Because you know if you're downloading it, Tony probably has some sort of spyware on your laptop that reports back to FRIDAY."

Peter opened his mouth to answer, but paused, a look of horror crossing his face. "Oh my god. He probably does."

Maureen snorted at his expression. "So it was porn?"

"Worse. Romantic chick flicks with sex scenes. I'm never gonna hear the end of it." He sighed. "Oh well." He bent back down, his mouth covering the other nipple.

The feel of his tongue on her sent a jolt of electricity through her, straight to her core. She ground her hips against the bed, attempting to get friction where she wanted it. In response, Peter sat up off her and pushed himself downward, his hands carefully spreading her legs apart. His tongue tapped against her clit lightly causing her to call out in pleasure. He flattened it against her for a moment before licking and caressing the bud that trembled at his touch.

"Oh my god…Peter…"

He sped up, thrusting his tongue into her for a moment before returning to her clit.

Her orgasm was close, and he knew it. Her heart was pounding, her breathing labored. But mostly he could tell by the staccato moans and whines. Just as he knew she was moments from orgasm, he sat back and let go.

She grunted in complaint at the feel of her lost orgasm.

"I was _so close_, Peter."

"Which means it'll be even better once I build you up again." He grinned. That he hadn't learned from television. That he'd learned from a couple of romance novels he'd bought from a used bookstore. Who said they were useless books?

They both knew they were going to try again at sex tonight. It was something they'd spoken about before he'd flown down. And something they'd both hinted at throughout the evening.

"Then I suggest you get those pants and boxers off."

His grin stretched wider as leapt from the bed and peeled off both layers at once, revealing his straining member. With a graceful move, he was back on the bed and easing himself over top of her. His erection pressed against her dripping folds.

"And you're absolutely positive?"

She traced a finger down his side. "One hundred percent."

He lowered himself against her and kissed her passionately.

"I love you," he said, brushing her hair off her cheek.

"I love you too." She reached around and rested her hands on his back.

Peter pressed himself up against her opening and pushed into her easily. He went slowly, letting her body adjust to an intrusion it hadn't had in almost a year. Once he was fully settled into her, he thrust, barely at first, and then more steadily.

Maureen lifted her pelvis up to let him in deeper, both of them groaning in pleasure at the feel. As he thrusted, he reached between them and rested his thumb on her clit, rubbing circles along the swollen spot. In response, she lifted her legs and wrapped them around him, gaining purchase so that she could move against him.

"Peter, I'm…I'm gonna…" She rasped. He pressed harder on her clit and she saw stars, a scream sailing from her throat as every nerve in her body burst. Waves crashed over her, drowning her as she gasped for air, her vaginal wall spasming around him so tightly he thought it was going to force him out of her body.

The contractions around his penis sent Peter over the edge and he came inside her, shuddering and trembling with pleasure.

The two were quiet for a minute, letting the rush of their orgasms wash over them before they spoke. Peter collapsed next to Maureen with a content sigh.

Maureen flipped onto her side to face Peter. "How did I get so lucky?"

The smile on Peter's face was hazy, and loose; he was high on endorphins and it showed. "Don't you mean how did _I_ get so lucky?"

She closed her eyes, the happiness overtaking her. "Can we just stay here forever? Just like this?" She settled her head against his chest.

He hummed his approval of the idea. "Yes, we can. Forever."

"Mmm, forever."


End file.
